1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character conversion apparatus and a character conversion method for a portable information apparatus called PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a portable telephone set, and more particularly to a character conversion apparatus and character conversion method for a portable information apparatus which can input and execute a command such as selection of a character conversion candidate, determination, backspace or escapement.
2. Description of the Related Art
PDAs having various functions have been put into practical use including a PDA which implements functions similar to those of a personal computer of the notebook type and another PDA which attaches much importance to the portability while minimizing available functions. For example, one of such PDAs adopts a hand-writing inputting system which inputs a character or characters written on a liquid crystal display panel to achieve miniaturization of the apparatus body. Meanwhile, another PDA has a configuration similar to a personal computer of the notebook type in that it includes a liquid crystal monitor and a keyboard and is conveniently used to input data.
Conventionally, a small portable terminal such as a PDA or a portable telephone set which involves character conversion is disadvantageous in that it is difficult to operate it with one hand because a character inputting apparatus thereof has only a limited number of buttons or it is difficult to perform character conversion on it without taking a hand off a character inputting device. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-297654 discloses an apparatus wherein a character is inputted by a streak along which a pen called casing is moved using a character recognition technique and the casing is swung strongly to effect character conversion. When the user swings the casing strongly in its longitudinal direction, an expansion spring installed in the casing is moved back and forth by expanding and contracting actions thereof as in a counter of an instrument for measuring the number of walking steps to depress a switch so that a signal for initiating character conversion is sent to a control section.
However, some technical difficulty is involved in character inputting to a portable information apparatus. For example, the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-297654 described above has the following problems.
The first problem is that a character obtained by character recognition cannot be settled. In order to settle a character obtained by character recognition, a key input is required. The reason is that only an amplitude in one direction is utilized and the forward and backward directions are not utilized.
The second problem is that erasure of a character before conversion and interruption of proceeding character conversion cannot be performed. In order to interrupt proceeding character conversion, a key input is required. The reason is similar to that of the first problem.
The third problem is that the order of conversion is limited to an ascending order from among order numbers of character conversion candidates. The reason is similar to that of the first problem.
The fourth problem is that the mechanism which performs character conversion when it is swung strongly is not suitable as a small portable terminal. The reason is that there is the possibility that the apparatus may drop because a character is not inputted while the apparatus is grasped strongly like a pen.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a character conversion apparatus for a portable information apparatus which can executes commands for selection of a character conversion candidate, determination, backspacing, escapement and so forth by a simple operation.
In order to attain the object described above, according to the present invention, a body of a portable information apparatus in which a character conversion apparatus is incorporated is operated to be turned in a direction in order to input a command such as selection or determination of a character conversion candidate, backspace or escapement. The character conversion apparatus detects the turning direction and the acceleration in the turning direction of the body of the portable information apparatus, and executes a command defined by the thus detected turning direction and acceleration. It is to be noted that the commands to be inputted and executed by the character conversion apparatus are not limited to those specifically mentioned above, but some other commands may be allocated to different operations for the portable information apparatus
More particularly, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a character conversion apparatus for a portable information apparatus, comprising an inputting apparatus for inputting a character to the portable information apparatus, a character database memory in which character data are stored, a display apparatus for displaying a character or characters inputted from the inputting apparatus or a character or characters obtained by conversion with reference to the character database memory, acceleration sensor means for detecting an acceleration of the portable information apparatus when one of different turning operations is performed for the portable information apparatus, and a central processing unit for executing one of commands for character processing individually allocated to the turning operations for the portable information apparatus which corresponds to the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor means.
The acceleration sensor means may include a plurality of acceleration sensors mounted on the information processing apparatus, and different ones of the commands may be allocated individually to detection results of the acceleration sensors.
The acceleration sensors may be mounted on an upper side, a lower side, a left side and a right side of the portable information apparatus and individually detect accelerations which are generated by a turning movement of the portable information apparatus, and the central processing unit may execute commands of character conversion in an ascending order of numbers of character candidates, character conversion in a descending order of the numbers of the candidates, character deletion/cancellation and determination allocated to the detection results of the turning movements of the acceleration sensors to perform character conversion.
The commands regarding the character conversion may be allocated such that the command of ascending order conversion is allocated to a turning movement of the portable information apparatus in one direction and the command of descending order conversion is allocated to another turning movement of the portable information apparatus in the opposite direction.
Alternatively, the commands regarding the character conversion may be allocated such that the command of character deletion and the cancellation command are allocated to one turning direction of the portable information apparatus, and which one of the commands is to be used may be automatically changed over depending upon whether character inputting is proceeding or character conversion is proceeding such that the character deletion command is performed during character inputting whereas the cancellation command is performed during character conversion, whereby a plurality of commands are allocated to the turning movement of the portable information apparatus in one direction.
When each of the acceleration sensors measures a process wherein the magnitude of the acceleration of the turning movement of the portable information apparatus generated by a turning operation for the portable information apparatus first becomes greater than a preset threshold value and then becomes smaller than the threshold value, the central processing unit may execute the command allocated to the turning direction of the turning movement so that one command may be executed by one turning operation for the portable information apparatus.
The acceleration sensors may be mounted on a left side and a right side of the portable information apparatus and each detects an acceleration generated by a turning movement of the portable information apparatus, and the central processing unit may execute the commands of character conversion in an ascending order of numbers of character candidates, character conversion in a descending order of the numbers of the candidates, character deletion/cancellation and determination allocated to the turning operations for the acceleration sensors obtained as the detection results to perform character conversion.
In this instance, the commands regarding the character conversion may each be defined by a unique combination of a direction of a turning movement of the portable information apparatus and a number of times by which a turning operation is applied to the portable information apparatus within a predetermined period of time and may be allocated so as to effect reverse conversion by turning movements of the portable information apparatus in the opposite directions such that the command of ascending order conversion is allocated to a turning movement of the portable information apparatus in one direction and the command of descending order conversion is allocated to another turning movement of the portable information apparatus in the opposite direction.
Alternatively, the commands regarding the character conversion may be allocated such that the command of character deletion and the cancellation command are allocated to a predetermined number of times by which the portable information apparatus is turned in one turning direction, and which one of the commands is to be used may be automatically changed over depending upon whether character inputting is proceeding or character conversion is proceeding such that the character deletion command is performed during character inputting whereas the cancellation command is performed during character conversion, whereby a plurality of commands are allocated to a particular number of times of the turning movement of the portable information apparatus in one direction.
One turning operation may be determined when the magnitude of an acceleration of a turning movement of the portable information apparatus generated by a turning operation for the portable information apparatus becomes lower than a preset threshold value after the magnitude exceeds the threshold value, and a plurality of commands may be allocated to different numbers of times by which the turning operation is performed for the portable information apparatus within a predetermined period of time such that, when a turning operation is performed once for the portable information apparatus in one direction, the command of ascending order conversion is performed once, but when a turning operation is performed twice for the portable information apparatus in the one direction, the character or characters obtained by the conversion are determined, whereby a plurality of command are allocated to one turning direction of the portable information apparatus.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a character conversion method for a character conversion apparatus of a portable information apparatus which includes an inputting apparatus for inputting a character to the portable information apparatus, a display apparatus for displaying a character or characters inputted from the inputting apparatus or a character or characters obtained by conversion, a central processing unit for executing control operation processing of the portable information apparatus, a plurality of acceleration sensors mounted on an upper side, a lower side, a left side and a right side of the portable information apparatus for detecting accelerations generated by turning operations for the portable information apparatus to which different commands regarding character conversion are allocated, and a character database memory in which character data are stored, the character conversion method comprising the steps of inputting characters through the inputting apparatus, detecting that one of accelerations generated by a turning operation for the portable information apparatus in a longitudinal direction or a lateral direction and detected by the acceleration sensors which has the highest absolute value, and executing that one of the commands regarding character conversion which is allocated to the turning operation of the detected acceleration.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a character conversion method for a character conversion apparatus of a portable information apparatus which includes an inputting apparatus for inputting a character to the portable information apparatus, a display apparatus for displaying a character or characters inputted from the inputting apparatus or a character or characters obtained by conversion, a central processing unit for executing control operation processing of the portable information apparatus, a plurality of acceleration sensors mounted on a left side and a right side of the portable information apparatus for detecting accelerations generated by turning operations for the portable information apparatus to which different commands regarding character conversion are allocated, and a character database memory in which character data are stored, the character conversion method comprising the steps of inputting characters through the inputting apparatus, detecting that one of accelerations generated when the portable information apparatus is turned once or a plurality of times in a predetermined direction within a predetermined period of time and detected by the acceleration sensors which has the highest absolute value, and executing that one of the commands regarding character conversion which is allocated to the turning operation of the detected acceleration.
The character conversion apparatus and the character conversion methods are advantageous in that character conversion can be performed simply with the portable information apparatus without requirement for complicated operations of an inputting apparatus. Consequently, the character conversion can be utilized effectively on a PDA having an inputting apparatus of a small size or a small portable terminal such as a portable telephone set. The reason is that character conversion can be performed only by tilting the body of the portable information apparatus in a longitudinal direction or a transverse direction.
The character conversion apparatus and the character conversion methods are advantageous also in that character conversion can be performed without taking a hand off the inputting apparatus. The reason is that character conversion can be performed only by tilting the body of the portable information apparatus similarly as in the first advantage described above.